I am a 23F and have been working in the manufacturing industry since I was a teenager.
I was at a company for 4 years and had to know triple the amount of things to get equal treatment as the men, and I did. When I left, I left while I only held a promoted worker type of title nothing too special, but I was the fall back informal leadership in my department when we had leadership absences.
I was the top cross trained employee in my department of 60+ people besides one other person who did hold the actual informal leadership title, on top of that we had another boss who dealt with time cards and business planning in the department. That boss was also amazing and appreciated me and knew I had a lot more to offer I just don’t have a degree to get into the type of work I am capable of, but offered me opportunities and extra projects to collaborate and work with the departments engineers and such, my input was valued.
During this summer though I had a mental health crisis and I resigned, on good terms however. I didn’t want to say goodbye forever I just told myself I needed to change my scenery to feel better as I’ve been in manufacturing as long as I’ve been working basically. I got a job working with others dealing with mental health and I liked the patients and they liked me, however I couldn’t deal with how terribly my coworkers treated them, it was a toxic workplace. And I wasn’t a hero and reported all my coworkers I just took the easy route and left.
I missed working with my tools and found a new manufacturing job. During my interview it was very informal and they just looked at my years of experience and hired me in at their highest level of basic floor production worker. It was higher paying then any other job and I was grateful my experience was considered and compensated.
This new department seems alright. But I’ve had several comments like how I must’ve just graduated. Or explanations over simplified like I’ve never seen something before, like a tool, or screw, or a part number. And one older lady even spoke for me when a manager asked if I had seen a certain product before and before I could explain that I have and how I know their attached to so & so In another area she blurts out “it’s her first week” and I stayed silent. There’s been more things like this an astounding amount actually in just a week. And I trained people at my old job many times and never treated them like they weren’t competent adults.
These coworkers don’t know my title is identical to theirs. On one hand it’s upsetting as I’m used to being highly regarded and respected and I learn very quickly. On another I want to use their ignorance of my skills to my advantage but I don’t know how.